Man gets year's jail for having sex with underage girl

After meeting a 13-year-old girl through a mutual friend in January this year, Muhammad Nur Hakim Abdullah, 20, asked her to be his girlfriend.

She agreed and, days later, he pressured her into having unprotected sex with him in his home.

Yesterday, Muhammad Nur Hakim, now 21, was sentenced to a year in prison for having sex with the minor, after pleading guilty to two of seven charges which also involve oral and anal sex. All the offences were committed in January.

The jobless man's total jail term comes up to 17 months, after he received a further five months' jail for drug-related offences. The court heard that Muhammad Nur Hakim had invited the girl to stay overnight at his home.

He asked the girl, now 14, to have sex with him after his siblings went out and the pair were left alone in the Housing Board flat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8. She ignored him at first, but eventually gave in after he persisted with the request.

One to two weeks later, they again had sex, this time in a toilet cubicle in Bishan Park II.

Separate cases are pending against two other men over similar charges committed with the same girl, who ended up pregnant and had to have an abortion. Another man, Musa Ahmad, also received a one-year jail term last month.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Lu said it was clear that Muhammad Nur Hakim had exploited the minor, pointing out how they had sex days after their first meeting, and several more times that same month.

She noted that Muhammad Nur Hakim had engaged in unprotected sex with the girl, which put her at risk of getting pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease. There was a big age gap of seven years between the two, DPP Lu added.

Muhammad Nur Hakim's lawyer, Mr Christopher Sim, said his client was born out of wedlock and lacked a father figure in his life. The maximum penalty for having sex with someone under 16 is 10 years in jail and a fine.

This article was first published on October 28, 2014. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.